Catherine was recently talking about a dog she was grooming who screamed whenever she was touched, so Catherine had to try and help her settle down.
Screaming is a very noisy ear-splitting sound, that is interpreted by us as a scream because of its pitch and intensity. It’s an excessive type of whine. When dogs are under stress they whine or whimper. If that stress increases so does the range and volume of the sound.
I remember the excitement and trepidation I felt when I was pregnant. I was determined to raise my children the best possible way. And I promised myself I was never ever going to say what I’d heard my own mother say frequently in exasperated tones “Because I said so.”
This internal vow lasted all of a couple of years. Toddlers can test the patience of a saint, which I certainly never aspired to being. All the incessant “why?”s and the difficult to answer questions, such as “Why did the very hungry caterpillar not just eat more leaves?”, “Why is the sky blue sometimes then grey sometimes?” and the unanswerable, “Why can Daddy never find anything in the cupboards?”
The following conversation happened regularly:
– “I’m hungry, Can I have a biscuit?”
– “No.”
– “Why can’t I have a biscuit?”
– “Because it’ll be teatime soon and if you have a biscuit you won’t have room for your tea.”
– “But why can’t I have one now because a biscuit’s only small so there’ll still be room in my tummy.”
– “Because even a small biscuit will take up room in your tummy and anyway biscuits aren’t very good for you.”
– “Why do you eat biscuits if they’re not good for you?”
– “Because I only eat a biscuit sometimes and never just before tea,” (Mummys are allowed to tell little lies), “and sometime just half a biscuit is enough.” (OK, total lies).
– “So why can’t I have half a biscuit now?”
– (Mummy loses the fight) “Because I said so.” (Aargh! Failure again.)
Dogs don’t talk to us in this way, (thank goodness). But somehow they have to try and explain how they feel. If we don’t take any notice when they ask politely and quietly, they have no option than to be more insistent. And they’ll end up shouting and screaming at us.
The trick is to notice they are uncomfortable and intervene early. And that needs the human to understand dog language.
Keep training
Carol